The French Open men’s final will be played this afternoon in Paris. Rafael Nadal returns as the heavy favorite against his good friend and countryman David Ferrer. It’s their 24 meeting and Nadal has won 19 of them.

Ferrer, though, enters his first career Grand Slam final having won all six matches at the tournament in straight sets. Nadal just won a grueling 4-hours, 37-minute marathon over rival Novak Djokovic on Friday.

ITF Notes:

2013 Roland Garros marks the 112th edition of the French Championships and the 83rd tournament since the event became international in 1925. It is also the 181st Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era, the first of which was 1968 Roland Garros, making this the 46th French Open.

Today’s champion receives €1,500,000 in prize money, while the runner-up collects €750,000. In total, the men’s singles prize fund for 2013 Roland Garros is €7,984,000, a 21.8% increase on 2012. The winner is also awarded 2000 ATP ranking points, with the runner-up receiving 1200.

Ferrer is projected to climb in the ATP World Tour Rankings when they are released on Monday 10 June regardless of his result in the final. If he wins the title he will record a career-high ranking of No. 3, if he finishes as runner-up he will climb to No. 4. Nadal will be No. 5 in the rankings regardless of his result in the final.

The last time neither the No. 1 or No. 2 seeds reached the final at a Grand Slam was at 2012 Wimbledon when No. 3 Roger Federer defeated No. 4 Andy Murray. The last time neither the No. 1 or No. 2 seeds reached the final here was in 2005 when No. 4 Nadal defeated the unseeded Mariano Puerta.

Nadal and Ferrer are in 1st and 2nd place for the most wins in 2013.

NO. 3 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v NO. 4 DAVID FERRER (ESP)
Head-to-head: Nadal leads 19-4
There have been 3 other all-Spanish finals in Grand Slam history – all of them at Roland Garros. The higher ranked player hasn’t always won – No. 20 Albert Costa defeated No. 11 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2002 final here.

Defending champion NADAL is bidding to become the first man in history to win 8 titles at the same Grand Slam event. He is one of 7 men in history to have won 7 Grand Slam titles at one event. Nadal and Chris Evert are the only players to have won 7 Roland Garros titles.

Nadal will become the leading performer in Roland Garros history if he wins the title here. Nadal currently has a 58-1 win-loss record at Roland Garros, putting him equal 1st on the list for most wins at Roland Garros along with Roger Federer and Guillermo Vilas.

Nadal is bidding to win his 12th Grand Slam title overall. He is currently joint-4th with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver on the list of all-time Grand Slam men’s singles title holders behind Roger Federer (17), Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12).

If Nadal wins today he would become the 2nd-youngest man in history to win 12 Grand Slam titles after Roger Federer. The Spaniard will be 27 years 6 days old on the final day of the tournament.

FERRER is bidding to win a Grand Slam title for the first time in his first major final. He would be the 36th man in the Open Era to win their first Grand Slam title in their maiden final.

Ferrer is bidding to become the 9th different Spanish man to win a Grand Slam title. He is the 11th Spanish man to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

At 31 years 68 days Ferrer is bidding to become the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title since Andre Agassi (32 years 272 days) at the 2003 Australian Open. The oldest man to win the title here is Andres Gimeno who was 34 years 306 days when he won in 1972.

Ferrer is looking to become the 12th different man aged 30 or over to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. The last man to win a Grand Slam title aged over 30 was Roger Federer, who was 30 years 335 days old when he won 2012 Wimbledon.

Nadalista and Giles,
LOL.
I just want to make it as a win-win situation for me. If Rafa wins nothing greater than that. But incase Ferru wins I will end up with a consolation money of about 40,000 Euros (equals to about 5 months of my paycheck).

It’s a shame modern “medicine” has produced such a horrible final at a major event. Bad enough these guys play each other often at other tournaments. Nadal = Ferrer * Ferrer. Sports aren’t supposed to be about predictability.

Second DF and he was break last game when he DF also. I started watching at 3-2 Ferrer thinking, humm so far close. Than Nadal runs with first set 6-3. Bye guys and congrats Nadal for his snowman and first man to win majors in 9 consecutive years.

VAM8S KING!
HIST8RY!
EIGHT is a good number, no?
NINE is also a good number, no
Incredible Rafa! 7 months out with injury. This is the greatest comeback in tennis history!
Vamos King!
Congrats to all Rafans. A great great day for us!
Congrats to Ferru for reaching the final.
K I N G. N A D A L!!

Hey Brando, happy moment?It should be, your guy deserved.He has been the best player last 3-4 months and true champion.Very glad he won ( unfortunately it was quite obvious and final was not a real final.Friday was…)so lets see what our favs will show us at Wimby.
Once more, congratulations!

Rafael!! Slam no.12, 3rd on all time Slam winners. Just 2 behind Pete.
Daveed fought well. One sided but not at all as bad as 2008 Nadal-Federer final.
Good luck for Wimbledon, champ! Another grass Slam would be very good.

@Courbon: Thanks!:-) just super glad Rafa won, especially after his long lay off. A truly great achievement. You are right: Friday was a final of sorts. But let’s credit Daveed: he’s a great fighter, and I am honestly happy for him also to have reached a slam final and especially a RG final. Thanks for your kind words though, much appreciated. :-) Re Wimby: just want to enjoy today after 7 months of no Rafa. It’s still a while off but right now TBH, I think Fed and especially Andy are the favs there. I pick Andy to win right now: fresh, rested, highly talented on grass, slam winner, home support looks good to me. But today is all about Rafa: Vamos Champ!:-)

It would have been a more satisfying end to the tournament if today’s and Friday’s matches had swapped days, but overall I’m not complaining. I hope for Ferrer’s sake he manages to reach at least one more final before he’s done.

Kinda off-topic, but I’ve noticed that for the women’s finals, the trophy is almost always presented by a former women’s champion (this year it was Sanchez-Vicario; have seen Seles, Pierce, and Evert in the last few years). But the men’s trophy is almost always presented by an international sports star (this year Usain Bolt; have seen Zinedine Zidane and Pele also give the trophy). Why not a former men’s champion? Carlos Moya was on site today. Borg has been on site in the past, as has Ivan Lendl.

Pitchaboy, I know you are disappointed Rafa hasn’t won 7 Wimbledons, 4 US Opens, 4 AOs apart from his 8 FOs. You know what? He isn’t perfect. But he’s gonna win more non clay Slams for sure. Hope that makes you happy ;-)

I’m a Fed fan, Nadal fans sure have a hell of a lot more to cheer about lol. Its only logical he will reach a few non-clay finals, If not Wimby and US, I think AO, next time could be his day. The losing and winning margins were similar at the AO final and FO IMO, so its very possible he could defeat Djokovic if they face of again at AO, the way I see it.

Pitchaboy im a Rafa fan,but i also like,admire,enjoy,watching both Novak and Roger,for what its worth,so lets not tar all Rafa fans with the same brush,sorry just saying,its only supposed to be a game not a war.

Indeed, 10-20 is a fact as the fact that on hard courts and grass Rafa will not even be the second best of his generation. It is RF, Novak and then Murray or Rafa depending on what Murray does in the next couple of years or so.

Troll away you trolls. Nothing you say is going to spoil the sheer and utter delight of all Rafans today!
8 FO TITLES!
First man to win 9 GS’s in consecutive years.
Troll away. Water off a duck’s back. Hahaha
Vamos King!!

Kicking Federer when he is getting ready to collect Social Security is no comfort. If you look at tennis dispassionately:
Aus Open: Perhaps Novak is the best to play on that surface. RF 2006 will give him a big fight but Novak 2011 wins in 5
FO: Nadal with Borg a distant second
Wimbledon: Sampras or RF; take your pick. Perhaps Sampras at his peak beats RF 2006 in 5 sets.
USO: RF 2006.

Hmm correct me if im wrong but i thought Rafa had won Wimbledon twice,and had been in 5 finals in all,where as Novak had only been in one final,and only won one final,and Andy had been in only been in one Wimbledon final,but never won it,so of all the active players theres only RF whos been in and won more Wimbledon titles,so surely that makes Rafa overall a better GC player than both Novak or Andy,just saying or maybe im missing something.

Simba, I have no dog in this fight like you do. Nadal in 2009 and 2010 was a beast, no question. But since 2011 he has not sustained that level on hard courts or grass courts. If he wins Wimbledon or US Open, I will salute you. If I wanted somebody to play for my life, it will be Nadal 2009/10.

If you think of Wimbledon,the two names that come to you are Sampras and RF. Ditto, USO. Aus Open and it is Novak and RF. FO, it is Nadal and then Borg. Those are the facts. Overall, in the last thirty years and it is RF, Sampras, Nadal and Borg. We can all argue what the exact lineup is, but these are the guys. Novak may yet make it depending on how he does the next few years.

It is sometimes nice to look at it from a distance. Tennis transitioned from a game of touch, serve, volley and speed to one of endurance and power. Rafa and Novak are the leading proponents of the new game. Borg and Sampras were the big guys in the old game. The transition champion was RF. he started off with serve, volley and speed and then changed to power and fitness. As expected, the younger generation have overtaken him. Inevitably, in about three years a new generation will take over the game. Equipment and courts have dictated and mandated this change.

@Pitchaboy, Let’s break down that 10-20.
Clay 13-2. Nadal humiliated Federer time and time again.”

Rafa has humilated every player on Clay. So? He owns it, no doubt about it!!

“HC 6-6. It is dead even. Hardly the dominant HC record the Federer can stake claim to.”

Yes that H2H is correct. But Rafa has 1 USO, Fed has 5
Rafa has 1 AO, Fed has 5.

To summarize, on HC Fed has NINE Slams on HC, Rafa has 2.

Dead even? The only dead even that counts is how many Slams you have won. You don’t win trophys by beating a rival unless you happen to meet them in the final. Apparently, Rafa couldn’t make it to the 9 Slams Fed won. Why?

“Grass 1-2. Too small a sample size. If they plays again in Wimbledon, it will be dead even. In the greatest match of the century, It is Roger that came out on the losing side.”

Ok. Lets take look at Grass. Rafa has 2, Fed has SEVEN. I believe the sample size here is quite clear. Rafa didn’t win the tournament Fed was in when he won 7. Why?

Whoever you are, nice to read you today. Have not seen that name before but you are an oasis in my desert of disappointment writing words as you do. Three years you say? What is three years to wait for change of the tennis guard while I sit here with damp squib on either side and a wet blanket over my misery, I was preparing to wait a decade more.

Why do you think in three years? Will tennis players just keep getting taller? Will they raise the nets higher? Will tennis go the way of boxing and have weight category’s and perhaps height category’s? The David Goffin’s want to know. Jerzy Janowitch’s mixed in with Dolly Dolgo just doesn’t work does it? thanks.

Federer had the right personality and attitude to carry #1, whether one liked him as that or not. He was good at #1 – it was not too much of a pain or burden for him. Djokovic has carried it with confidence as well but something bothers me about it and I don’t know what.

Rafa? I do not follow him like you, clearly, James. But he does not seem to prioritize #1 like his fans might want. He can’t really, he has to pace himself in the last half of the season, if he wants to have maintain control of Clay Court season. Perhaps he will go for it again and take it easier during clay season – that would be more interesting imo, but not an expert on Nadal here.

@Pitchaboy, Let’s break down that 10-20.
Clay 13-2. Nadal humiliated Federer time and time again.”

Rafa has humilated every player on Clay. So? He owns it, no doubt about it!!

“HC 6-6. It is dead even. Hardly the dominant HC record the Federer can stake claim to.”

Yes that H2H is correct. But Rafa has 1 USO, Fed has 5
Rafa has 1 AO, Fed has 5.

To summarize, on HC Fed has NINE Slams on HC, Rafa has 2.

Dead even? The only dead even that counts is how many Slams you have won. You don’t win trophys by beating a rival unless you happen to meet them in the final. Apparently, Rafa couldn’t make it to the 9 Slams Fed won. Why?

“Grass 1-2. Too small a sample size. If they plays again in Wimbledon, it will be dead even. In the greatest match of the century, It is Roger that came out on the losing side.”

Ok. Lets take look at Grass. Rafa has 2, Fed has SEVEN. I believe the sample size here is quite clear. Rafa didn’t win the tournament Fed was in when he won 7. Why?

Skeeze,
your post here was fair and factual. Problem is any win by Rafa (on clay) by his fans, seems to stick a rocket up their backsides. They feel somehow they need to justify another slam win.

Of course, it is an amazing achievement. If they feel they have to demean Federer’s achievements in the process, it tells you that they are only sore that Rafa hasn’t achieved what Fed has, but also that this is a verbal battle that neither you (don’t waste more energy), nor them can win.

and of course, let’s hope that Rafa can go on to achieve SIX indoor year end finals, which, as yet, still remains outstanding on his cv. Of course, Fed has been there, done that.

I think that it was a very wise move for Rafa to take off 7 months to recuperate. But I think also his main ambition/target was to win RG and play every damn clay court tournament there was in order to prepare for RG. It paid off.

“Rafa? I do not follow him like you, clearly, James. But he does not seem to prioritize #1 like his fans might want.”

He does. He fought for it and got it. Then lost it to Nole. He fought for it again but his knee let him down. But now he’s back and been the best player of the year so far with 7 titles, including FO, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome. Great achievement today with Slam no.12
I hope his hunger for success remains for the rest of the year and beyond. Wimby next!

It just seems like the conservative and easiest way for Rafa to accumulate GS numbers, if that is the goal, is to not try to push water uphill by trying to win HC season. His best surface is clay so it is just common sense to aim for that. But maybe he is on an every other year plan. To my mind that would be way more valuable: collect another Wimby, US open, and an AO instead of three more RG’s. But if passing Sampras and Federer is a goal then it is a role of the dice to go the hard court route – competition there is tougher.

contador, it was only last year that Rafa missed the HC season due to you know the left knee. He won the AO in 2009, USO in 2010, was also finalist in AO 2012 and USO 2011. He just isn’t as big a force on the HCs as he is on the red dirt.

Well, your guy has issues going into the end of the season if he goes all out at Wimby and on hc. He won US open, sure but he was no good for WTF in 2010 – not good enough to beat Feds indoors anyway.

Maybe he should shoot for it. As I said, I think it would be more interesting for his title collection but the easier way is to pace himself and clean up during clay season; that formula works well for him – the competition is useless against him on clay.

“He won US open, sure but he was no good for WTF in 2010 – not good enough to beat Feds indoors anyway.”

Sure, but was still good enough to beat your guy indoors.
Look, Rafa isn’t going to dominate the HCs like he does clay. If he did, he’d easily be the greatest of all time. He isn’t. And that’s fine with me. Rafa prefers to be in the moment and not think too far ahead. It’d be very arrogant of him to think of winning every Slam, no?

Pitchaboy predicts a new generation changover in 3 years. I was curious to know if he has anyone particular in mind. I am interested and follow the juniors – boys and girls. There are a few very tall ones – giants – like Jerzy. Nothing against Jerzy, he’s incredible and frightening! And more like him just keep coming.

If Pitchaboy is right, who knows. I doubt Rafa will win all four GS for the next 3 years. 3 or 4 more is realistic and I hope they are not all RG titles; would love to see someone else win the clay slam. Sorry if this collides with your hopes but there it is. ;) nothing personal/ it is just tennis.

lol, you are kidding Giles, really? You want Rafa to win Wimbles again, that’s a shocker ;) *teasing*
James or Gilou
on a serious note when did Rafa beat Feds at the end of the season – Asian swing or something? I don’t remember and I am too lazy to gaze on the h2h. How many times from Sept. after the US Open until end of season has Rafa won over Fed? not at all being flip; I don’t recall atm.

Time catches up with all of us. Rafa is past his peak(2010) and has another FO or two to go. RF will need a miracle to get another slam. Novak and Murray will likely share the spoils over the next three years or so. In that time one of the young guns will mature and take over. In 2006 it looked like RF would win for ever and end up with 25. In 2010 Rafa looked unstoppable. Old man Time gets all if them. You lose a step and a little power and all if a sudden you are merely mortal

I think when u are a fan of someone you see the tree and miss the forest. The inside baseball numbers will be mere footnotes in history. What will endure to judge your place in history of tennis are two questions: how many slams did you win and how long did you dominate your era as No. 1. At this time two people reign supreme: RF and Sampras in that order. No wonder Federer chased the record of weeks as No 1 last year. Who the hell remembers the head to head of Kaver and Rosewall?

I actually think head to head records are highly relevant. Emerson had 12 slams, Laver 11. I believe that Laver owned Emerson. The slam numbers alone don’t necessarily define who is better.

Fed has 17 majors. That’s a really big number. The fact that he is ahead in most of his rivalries is important. I do believe that if Rafa ends up within one or two majors, I give him the nod as the greater player. Nadal has a better H2H record against ALLLL his rivals. That really says something. And when Fed began to dominate there was a two or three year period where the competition was a little weak. Hence is 7-0 start in Slam finals. When Rafa began to make his move, Federer was in his way at every turn. Rafa found a way to beat Roger not just in Paris but at Wimbledon as well. Greatness personified. To be the man, ya’ gotta’ beat the man.

I so disagree that H2H is highly relevant in tennis; unless you are talking about way more than one h2h vs one, even one dominant player. As we see, Feds h2h vs Rafa did not stop Fed from accumulating the most GS wins. If h2h was that relevant it would show more in Federer;s numbers and records, say for holding number one as well and others.

But I walk away from GOAT debates; and never looked at Sampras as an all courter because he had no Clay GS title. And being an all court player was a requisite – I need them to show me a variety of Goatliness, not singular expertise to grass or hc or in mainly one season.

It is doubtful that any US born tennis fan would agree with me about Sampras, but the criteria for GOAT in tennis can be quite subjective. Number of GS does not really cut it for me in itself and I am a Federer fan. Federer is the best tennis player in so many ways imo that make him Goat other than number of GS. Leave it to a woman, eh? :D Federer fits all my criteria and then some.

One could argue that Nadal has had a particularly weak bunch of clay-courters and made out like a bandit. I don’t believe in that argument. RF made his opponents look weak in his prime just as Rafa makes everyone look weak on clay. Federer was the transition champ. But his game depended on speed and precision of timing, two reasons he stubbornly held on to his racquet and refused to go with the large frame racquets with a broad sweet spot. And, of course, the one handed backhand. In his prime, it helped him generate unbelievable angles. When he lost a step, it became a liability against the power and spin the new equipment generates.

There are a couple major flaws in Rafa’s h2h dominance if you look closely at those records.

Time has worked in favor of Nadal until he starts the slippery slope downhill on his favorite surface. Then what to do? Djokovic has done good work on his h2h vs Nadal. Give Nole time. H2h is a flimsy meter to gauge one’s greatness – there is a reason it is not remembered like other records.

If Rafa was more well rounded – had a more balanced collection of titles on all surfaces he would be the undisputed Goat – Thinking if he was as dominant on grass, hc, indoors as clay – hands down, no argument. Ah, there would still be the subjective elements, for me, anyway…the best tennis in the world and ever would not be the tennis I prefered to watch – personal preference of the fans does play a role.

Rafa Nadal is NOT the best of all time! No, not yet! Roger is the GOAT.
Sure, our boy Nadal dominates their rivalry but the Swiss guy has 17 Grand Slams to Rafa’s 12. When Rafa wins 2-3 more non clay Slams and get his Slam tally to 15 or more, the so called tennis ‘greats’ and ‘experts’ would be the first to annoint Nadal the GOAT. Now, can Rafa win 2-3 non clay Slams? He can. Will he? We don’t know. Neither does he.
Maybe after 3-4 years we’ll know where his rightful place is in the history of tennis. As of now, Roger is the GOAT.
And yes it’s a great thing that Rafa has a superior H2H record against the best players of his time.

You don’t have to call Federer the GOAT. Rafa can be your GOAT right now : ) No doubt he is! He has won a GS title on every surface, he dominates Roger Federer in h2h and time is not on Feds side vs Nadal.

Rafa could walk away from tennis right now and still be a legend and one of the greatest ever. I have to say that he is one of the greats though I do not enjoy watching him. His achievements demand respect and greatness.

There is some question of weak eras. Did Federer play in a weak era? Is Nadal so great on clay because of a weak clay era? I have argued both for and against weak eras. If one is honest, I think you have to say that there is no way to control for who you earned your titles and records against. Give Federer and Nadal their due. They dominated.

“I cannot find the win you claim Rafa has had over federer on indoor hc.”

And when did I make that claim of Rafa beating Roger on indoor hc? I may be biased towards Rafa but I don’t claims I can’t back up with facts. I said that Rafa has a superior H2H vs the best players of his time! FACT! Nadal 20-15 Djokovic, Nadal 20-10 Federer, Nadal 13-5 Murray.

Also I’ve said it many times on here that Roger is the GOAT (my 2nd fav player). I’m always rooting for him when he’s up against players other than Nadal. And last time they played in Rome, I cheered for Roger against Rafa! They are my two fav players. I don’t find Djokovic as interesting. I find Murray’s game boring.

James says to contador @ 5:07 pm June, 9
“Sure, but was still good enough to beat your guy indoors.”

just setting the record straight. No indoor wins vs Federer. Those indoor hc tournaments are in the fall and Rafa is not really strong in the tail end of the season – no wins on indoor hc. Roger whips Rafa at the tour finals – consistently.

Rafa is a winter – spring – summer – 3/4 or the season maximum for him. the last part – not so good. In fact he tends to skip a lot by then = why he moans a lot about the season needing to be shortened and his ranking protected for 2 years, ect.

And if you do more than just look at the h2h, you see that most Rafa’s wins are on clay, which is both good and bad. Good because he dominates that surface but bad because he is lopsided – not so good in Summer hard court us open series.

But if Rafa only had to play Federer… the match-up favors Rafa. my point is that there is a whole lot more than the h2h in tennis to go on. sheesh…i am done. I hate these discussions – been over this ground with too many times. Pretty soon I will automatically launch into weak eras and goat…lord.

I like Rafa but give credit where its due. Rosol beat Rafa last Wimbledon because he played better and deserved the win. He outplayed Rafa esp in the 5th set. Rosol or anyone who outplays Rafa or any other player, they deserve their win.
But you wouldn’t understand, all your posts suggest you can’t see beyond a fading old tennis player from Basel.

“But if Rafa only had to play Federer… the match-up favors Rafa.”
I know that’s what everyone thinks. But I’ve always thought that Roger could’ve beaten Rafa (and Nole too) more had he shown more fight like how Nole does against Rafa. But that’s me. Maybe because I’m a single-backhanded myself and don’t like to think of it as inferior to the double-backhand.

I think we misread or misunderstood. you were jumping on me about something – if you read the exchange. and my point is not about roger beating rafa indoors last year but if you do look at the tour finals, I think there is a handful of them and rafa just does not perform well historically at the end of the season. Maybe he will turn that around but I doubt it!!

hhahahaha their h2h would be less lopsided if Federer was not so obliging and sets himself up to get whipped in the spring! too bad Federer is not worse on clay, then he would not get beat by rafa in all those clay finals. And, too bad Rafa was not better and more obliging to feds in the fall so feds could beat him at that time of year more…

then think about hc and how slow it is at AO compared to US Open and how slow those IW and Miami courts are compared to Cincinatti. h2h is just a bit less rock solid than many make it out to be.

I think the discussion just highlights how extraordinarily consistent Roger has been on all surfaces (including clay – it’s only that there has been an irresistible force in his way) up until the last couple of years, and we should now let him play out the rest of his years as he chooses without hounding him into retirement just because he no longer plays with the same consistency.

The question now is, will anyone ever match those records? I’ll always root for Rafa, but realistically I don’t think he’s going to win more than 2 or 3 non-clay slams – if that – over the rest of his career. I think he, Nole and Andy will continue to share the spoils for the next couple of years until the next generation catches up. Who will be leading that pack? I don’t follow the juniors so I don’t know if anyone is waiting to burst onto the scene. There’s not really anyone in the top 30 apart from Dimitrov and possible Janowicz who looks like a prospect.

@contador, true, Rafa has never won the Tours final. I have no doubt he can improve on it as he’s reached the finals there a few times. As for Rafa vs Roger H2H on faster courts, at this point I highly doubt Roger is going to whip Rafa. Not because he can’t but because sadly he doesn’t seem to be as confident against Rafa as he is against any other player. Trust me, I’d be happy to see him beat Rafa (and Nole in another) one more time in an epic match before his retirement. Rafa will always lead their rivalry, so no worries there.

@contador, hahaha no I didn’t know you were a Roger fan. Only shows you’re a fair poster. Well I always thought you were one, which is why I kind of got confused when I noticed a little anti Rafa posts from you ;-) but maybe it was in response to some Rafa biased posts.

ah, Nole and Rafa are not as consistent at season end as old faded federer. That dog still has some life in him but he has to pick his battles. I wish he would stop playing sometimes but he wont listen to me LOL

Nole, won last year Tour Final and I think he has 2 or 3. But Davis Cup has been a priority for Nole end of season too.

Andy Murray is unpredictable end of season. I miss soderling. He was fun watching indoors hc season. Maybe Jerzy will be my Soda popper replacement – the young Pole made the indoors Paris final last fall.

________________

And not sure about the Wimbledon seeding, where Fed will land – most of the betting sites I don’t trust. Points cut -off in the 17th – which will include points from Aegon and Halle ….

Jane, did mat4 in fact disappear after Friday like he said. How long did he impose his self ban? I have been busy woth the birthday bashes so i havent read tx as diligently but i dont think ive seen him. I hope he comes back soon I do enjoy him a lot. Even though he tries to antagonize rafa fans! I think last year he was back before Wimbledon.

My sentiments exactly regarding Fedal HxH. In the past I posted here that Nadal never played Fed in his peak, nor now in 2 of Fed’s most successful courts: Cincy and US Open where he has multiple titles. Fed played Nadal in all slow hard courts more than once: AO (2 times Nadal), Miami (2×1 Nadal) and IW (1×1). It’s not to be assumed that Nadal would never beat Fed in those courts but judging by his results in indoor (where so far he was never able to beat Fed), which are fast courts. 4 of the 5 times Nadal played every since he became top 8 in 05′ (06′, 07′, 09′, 10′, 11′ did not play 05′, 08′ and 12′) he lost to Federer, sole exception was 09′. Fed would get an edge in those courts.

The thing about the HxH is that Nadal due to clay created a huge mental advantage translate to Slams. After that 2008 Wimby loss, Fed lost next 3 Slam matches versus Nadal (AO 09′, RG 11′ and AO 12′) of course, they never played US Open or again in Wimby to see if Fed can get his “revenge”.

As Nadal’s ranking in Wimby this year will be #5 (somebody already made calculation using the formula Wimby uses with results from 2011, 2012 and actual rankings), the chance of him meeting Murray and Fed in quarters is greater than Djoko as #1 rarely plays #5 in quarters. So we can have a scenario with Djoko (#1), Fed (#3) and Nadal (#5) all in the same side of the draw. That would be insane, all last 3 champions who won last 10 Wimbledons in the same side of the draw!

Kimberly, mat4 did disappear; I think he said he would not be back before Wimbledon. He usually pops back in, though. How nice to be busy with birthday parties and such; little boys are so much fun!

contador, “their h2h would be less lopsided if Federer was not so obliging and sets himself up to get whipped in the spring! too bad Federer is not worse on clay, then he would not get beat by rafa in all those clay finals.”

@contador
Have really enjoyed reading your “musings.” :)
JJ is definitely one to watch. Though another “too tall” for me.
Andy “boring” what, what? I mean even the TMF admires his “virtuosity.” ref and thanking the DA here….;)

Well I hope he (mat4) comes back soon. Hi Margot, you must be looking forward to seeing your man play again this week! I actually think Murray and federer are the favorites at wimbledon but Vegas disagrees. Despite their titles and finals I have never been convinced of rafoles grass court game. I always felt nadal was vulnerable to upset (like rosol) in the first week until the conditions slowed and felt djokovic vulnerable to haas type players. I always thought fed Murray had more grass court games and the other two bullied/willed/strong armed their way to titles.

@kimberly
Hi back :) Hope Colin had a lovely birthday party and not too much chaos ensued.
Sooooo excited about seeing Andy, or more to the point, seeing Andy win a couple of matches…even better :)
Seems so long since I’ve seen him play, have no idea how his game stands, but as usual, wishing and hoping.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^If there is any truth to draw rigging no way is murray getting him in england. Djoko nadal too mouth watering for a quarter. But I am thinking that Federer will be seeded two yes, due to bump up from winning last Wimbledon? Or no?

You have to be a Brit to guess what they might do with the seeding at Wimbledon, maybe. Not sure until the draw comes out. Could be revenue they are after, sure; but up there with my best guesses would be what is best for Andy Murray, or maybe they are too confused by him, as I am, to know. Makes sense to me that he get a favorable draw. Then, honor the grass King along with don’t look too obvious, put Novak first. Just guessing after reading some betting sites:

Nole
Andy
Federer
Nadal

but that is premature. some sites have Nadal higher and some lower, as low as fifth. On the 17th the shuffling of players will be more set, as far as ranking points goes – but that does not necessarily mean anything lol, it’s Wimbles.

Kimberly my vote is neutral for GSN. Making the picks works well with my old browser Safari. It is not at all conducive to bracketeer chatting, I didn’t think. And I am forgetting why I didn’t like Tennis Channel bracket.